EDITOR'S CHOICE -- SCOTT SUTTELL

Here's one poll that puts John Kasich at a disadvantage

It's way too early for normal people to pay close attention to 2014 Ohio gubernatorial polls, but Politico.com, which lives for this stuff, calls attention to one that's pretty interesting/surprising.

“Republican John Kasich's approval/disapproval rating stands at 42-47 in a new Public Policy Polling survey, down a net 10 points from the last time the firm polled that question in November 2012,” the website reports.

As a result, the poll from left-leaning Public Policy Polling finds Democrat Ed FitzGerald “with a three-point lead over Kasich, 38-35,” even though most voters — 62% — said they weren't sure whether they viewed the Cuyahoga County Executive favorably or unfavorably.

Public Policy Poling surveyed 551 Ohio voters from Aug. 16-19 with a margin of error of +/- 4.2%.

You can see the results here, which includes early statewide polling data that's favorable for Republicans Mike DeWine and Jon Husted, the attorney general and secretary of state, respectively, but not so good for state treasurer Josh Mandel.

This and that

The sands shift: Bloomberg reports that Chesterland-based industrial sands producer Fairmount Minerals Ltd. has increased the size of a loan maturing in four years while decreasing a facility that comes due in six years.

Citing “a person with knowledge of the transaction,” Bloomberg reports that the $325 million first-lien piece, up from $250 million, “will pay interest at 4 percentage points more than the London interbank offered rate with no floor.” An $885 million first-lien potion, reduced from $960 million, “will pay interest at 4 percentage points more than Libor with a 1 percent minimum on the lending benchmark,” the source tells Bloomberg.

The transaction supports the company's acquisition of FTS International Services Inc.'s sand reserves, includes a $75 million revolving line of credit that expires in five years, according to the story.

Quite a load: Ohio students are carrying a particularly heavy debt load when they leave college, according to this study from NerdWallet.com.

Data from the Institute for College Access and Success and Peterson's College Guide show the average debt for an Ohio student is $28,683 and 68% of students graduate with debt. That earned Ohio a spot on the survey's “10 worst states for debt” list, which is based on a ratio of the amount of debt and the number of students who have it.

The best state for student debt was Hawaii, with 38% of students accruing debt and an average debt of $17,447. The worst state was New Hampshire, with 75% of students incurring debt and an average debt of $32,440.

What's in a name: The Cleveland Cavaliers are near the bottom of the standings, again, this time in a Grantland.com ranking of NBA team names.

The Cavs are 29th, better than only the Brooklyn Nets, as Grantland.com NBA writer Zach Lowe sees it.

His rationale?

“It's so boring, with zero connection to the city of Cleveland,” Mr. Lowe writes. “The word 'cavalier,' as an adjective, amounts to a lazy arrogance — as in, "There is something cavalier about the way Dion Waiters breaks sets to launch 20-foot jumpers.' "

As a bit of history, the piece notes that “Cavaliers” was the winning entrant in a fan contest the team's owners organized when the franchise came into existence in 1970. Other finalists included Jays, Towers, Foresters “and the potentially very fun Presidents — an apparent reference to the unusually high number of U.S. presidents born and/or raised in the Cleveland area,” according to Mr. Lowe.

Swashbucklers “aren't uncool,” he concludes, “but everything about them is dated, and swords haven't felt quite as threatening since that famous scene in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' The double-C alliteration doesn't do enough to lift 'Cavaliers' above (the 29th) spot.

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